The Swedish furniture company bought a Romanian forest earlier this month, The Wall Street Journalreports. The wood from the forest will be used to create products for a store in Bucharest.

Ikea’s move comes as the company has been working to become more environmentally friendly. Earlier this year, Ikea was banned from cutting down trees in Russia, though the ban was lifted a month later.

The company has also been trying to become more efficient while simultaneously expecting to sell more inventory than ever before. Per the Journal:

IKEA in 2012 set a target to double sales to EUR50 billion ($55 billion) by 2020. That involves more than doubling the volume of products it sells, said IKEA's head of sustainability, Steve Howard, since the retailer tries to lower overall prices slightly every year. Despite this, IKEA is aiming to increase the wood it uses by only about 50%, Mr. Howard said in an interview.

For more on Ikea, check out Fortune’sin-depth feature on the company’s transformation in recent years.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/07/31/ikea-forests/feed/0An Ikea store in Covina, Calif.snyderfortuneIkea offers repair kits for 27 million chests, dressers after 2 kids diehttp://fortune.com/2015/07/22/ikea-dresser-recall/
http://fortune.com/2015/07/22/ikea-dresser-recall/#commentsWed, 22 Jul 2015 18:08:15 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1217599]]>Ikea is offering repair kits for 27 million chests and dressers after they’ve been found to tip over, the Consumer Product Safety Commission said Wednesday. The furniture has been linked to the deaths of two children who were crushed last year, which is why the repair kits are being offered to consumers.

The kits are designed to help those who’ve bought the products anchor them to a wall and potentially limit the risk of injuries. There are 7 million MALM chests and 20 million dressers involved in the program to receive the free kits.

Ikea will "continue to collaborate with the CPSC to find solutions for more stable furniture," said Ikea spokeswoman Mona Liss. "We don't know yet what those solutions will be but we are committed to working in collaboration to try to find better solutions.”

A six-year-old boy died in February 2014 after a dresser fell on him, while a two-year-old child died in June of last year under similar circumstances. There have reportedly been 14 incidents of chests or dressers from Ikea falling over, which have led to four injuries.

“The kit contains replacement tip-over restraints for use by any consumer who has not secured their IKEA chest or dresser to the wall. The kit also includes complete wall anchoring hardware, instructions and warning labels to be affixed to the furniture,” said the CPSC.

The chests and dressers range from $80 to $200 in price.

USA Today noted:

CPSC is recommending that consumers immediately stop using all IKEA children’s chests and dressers taller than 23 1/2 inches and adult chests and dressers taller than 29 1/2 inches, unless they are securely anchored to the wall. IKEA’s free wall anchoring kit should be used to secure MALM and other IKEA chests and dressers to the wall.

The newspaper reported that three other children have died since 1989 due to Ikea's chests and dressers, not counting the two most recent deaths.

Every two weeks, a child reportedly dies, and one is injured every 24 minutes, according to USA Today, which cited CPSC data.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/07/22/ikea-dresser-recall/feed/0An Ikea store in Covina, Calif.snyderfortuneIKEA is the latest company to bump up the wages of its lowest-paid staffhttp://fortune.com/2015/06/25/ikea-raise-minimum-wage-living-wage/
http://fortune.com/2015/06/25/ikea-raise-minimum-wage-living-wage/#commentsThu, 25 Jun 2015 09:34:15 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1192470]]>IKEA is following Walmart WMT and Target TGT in giving a big bump to its lowest-paid staff’s wages, as it tries to reduce staff turnover and burnish its image as a responsible employer.

The company says it will raise its hourly minimum wage at its stores from the start of next year from $10.76 to $11.87, a $1.11, a raise of 10.3% that will leave it $4.62 above the current federal minimum wage. It also said that its five U.S. distribution centers and three non-retail locations will also have minimum wages above the local living wage, and no co-worker will have a minimum hourly wage below $10.00. The move will affect just under a third of IKEA’s 15,000 staff at its 40 U.S..

The move comes after IKEA decided last year to base its pay scales on local indexes of the cost of living, which factored in things like housing and food costs. That led to an average increase in pay of 17% for half of its staff across the country, according to The Wall Street Journal.

With the economic recovery maturing and the jobless rate back at a post-crisis low, competition for labor is heating up around the country, forcing employers to pay more to attract and keep staff. The trend has been particularly visible in the labor-intensive retail industry. Target, Walmart and TJX have all announced similar measures in recent months.

“This is not only the right thing to do for our co-workers, it's also good for business,” IKEA’s U.S. president Lars Petersson said. He said that staff turnover rates have fallen by five percent since the company launched its initiative.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/06/25/ikea-raise-minimum-wage-living-wage/feed/0An Ikea store in Covina, Calif.geoffreytsmithThis big retailer just raised its minimum wage for U.S. workers — againhttp://fortune.com/2015/06/24/ikea-hikes-minimum-wage/
http://fortune.com/2015/06/24/ikea-hikes-minimum-wage/#commentsWed, 24 Jun 2015 12:56:04 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1191196]]>Last June, Ikea announced it would raise its hourly minimum wage in U.S. stores from $9.17 to $10.76, a 17.3% hike. Now, almost exactly one year later to the day, Ikea is doing it again.

The Swedish furniture giant says the pay will go up to $11.87, a 10% increase for Ikea and a whole $4.62 above the current U.S. federal minimum wage of $7.25. (There is a movement underway to bring that up to $12 by 2020.) The hike will take effect on the first day of 2016 and will have an impact on 30% of Ikea’s U.S. employees.

This is a smart business move by Ikea, which has been expanding globally at a rapid pace, and it is one that will inevitably reap good P.R. The last time around went well for the company: Rob Olson, Ikea’s U.S. CFO, told the Huffington Post that in the six months since the last hike, Ikea has had 5 percent less worker turnover and is already attracting better talent.

Ikea was one of Fortune’s Best Companies to Work For in 2006 and 2007, but then dropped off the list. Perhaps its continued attention to better worker wages will get it back on.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/06/24/ikea-hikes-minimum-wage/feed/0IKE.03.15.15.IKEA.05DBRHere’s how Ikea is fighting climate changehttp://fortune.com/2015/06/04/ikea-fights-climate-change/
http://fortune.com/2015/06/04/ikea-fights-climate-change/#commentsThu, 04 Jun 2015 15:01:57 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1159166]]>Ikea has seen its net income increase 31% in the past five years, a tribute to its popularity with customers. But there’s one area where the furniture retailer isn’t resonating with consumers as much as it would like: social and environmental responsibility.

The Swedish company wants to change that. On Thursday, Ikea said it plans to spend EUR1 billion -- or $1.13 billion -- on renewable energy and aid to poor nations coping with climate change.

The company will invest EUR600 million in wind and solar power; that’s on top of the EUR1.5 billion it has invested since 2009. It also plans to plant as many trees as it chops down by 2020. Its charitable arm, the Ikea Foundation, will invest EUR400 million by 2020 to combat the impact of climate change in vulnerable nations.

As Fortune reported in March, Ikea, which uses 1% of the world’s commercially logged wood, has already gone to great lengths to try to infuse sustainability into its operations. Its roofs are outfitted with 700,000 solar panels and will soon operate 314 wind turbines in nine countries, putting the company on track to be energy independent by 2020. At the company's factory in ?lmhult, Sweden, leftover wood scraps are sold to the energy company EON to heat the community. Stores recycle the soft plastic film used in plastic packaging to make the Skrutt desk pads the company sells. By September 2015, the company will have phased out all non-LED light bulbs in its stores, and it’s starting to sell solar panels. In the last fiscal year, sales from its products that encourage more environmentally-friendly lifestyles surpassed more than $1 billion.

Even so, a survey conducted last year found that 41% of Ikea customers consider the company one that “takes social and environmental responsibility.” Ikea wanted that percentage to reach 70 by 2015, Reuters says.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/06/04/ikea-fights-climate-change/feed/0An Ikea store in Covina, Calif.clairezillmanIkea offers a new twist on one of its most iconic products—Swedish meatballshttp://fortune.com/2015/04/08/ikea-veggie-balls/
http://fortune.com/2015/04/08/ikea-veggie-balls/#commentsWed, 08 Apr 2015 17:08:58 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1071089]]>Before we go any further, let's get this out of the way. Ikea is not getting rid of its famous Swedish meatball, a billion of which are sold every year. Now you can relax.

Rather Ikea is undergoing an "enlargement of the balls menu," in the memorable phraseology of Michael La Cour, managing director of Ikea Food Services. Tomorrow Ikea will roll out veggie balls in its restaurants followed by chicken balls later this month. Both will available for purchase in the Swedish food market this summer.

In March Fortune detailed Ikea's plan to grow to EUR50 billion in sales by 2020, up from EUR28.7 billion in its fiscal 2014 ($39 billion based on the average exchange rate for Ikea's fiscal year), by planting its blue and yellow flag around the globe.

Expanding its food offerings is also key to Ikea hitting its target. "We are very ambitious about the food business," La Cour says. "This will help us drive growth." The food operation is currently EUR1.67 billion (approaching $2 billion based on today's exchange rate), putting it at roughly the same size as the Cheesecake Factory CAKE.

The furniture behemoth is already the largest exporter of Swedish food, purchasing 25% of its home country’s annual lingonberry supply, and serving 600 million guests in its restaurants, Swedish food market, and bistros every year.

The veggie balls, which are vegan, are designed to draw in non-meat eaters--which is particularly relevant as Ikea looks to invest $2 billion in India over a decade--and so-called flexitarians, who want to cut down on meat consumption. “There’s a move in the U.S. in particular but also worldwide,” Gerd Diewald, head of U.S. Ikea food, tells Fortune at a tasting at Ikea’s Brooklyn store this morning. “People want to know what's in their food,” he adds, noting that customers are more interested in finding out nutritional informational and whether the animals were humanely treated.

But the launch of the veggie balls--or Gr?nsaksbullar, in Swedish--is also a move to align the food business with Ikea’s overall strategy of making more sustainable products at affordable prices, thereby creating a "better everyday life for the many people" in Ikea lingo. Both the chicken and veggie balls have a significantly lower carbon footprint than the original meat-pork combo.

The veggie balls will be priced at $4.49 for 10 pieces, and customers will also be able to add five to any entree for $1. “Good nutritious food doesn’t have to be expensive,” Diewald says.

The offerings are a new step for Ikea in applying its democratic design principles of form, function, quality, sustainability, and affordability to the food aisle. By the fall all of Ikea’s seafood other than crayfish will be certified by the Marine Stewardship Council or Aquaculture Stewardship Council. The company will also roll out frozen yogurt, which has a lower fat and calorie and fat count than its soft ice cream, and New Nordic fruit waters, which have significantly less sugar than soda. The classic meatball has been antibiotic free for over year. Ikea will also increase its organic offerings.

Ikea decided to start its overhaul of its food offerings with its most popular dish, with Diewald joking that they were “going from meatballs to amazeballs.” Only three other product lines have been part of Ikea for as long as the Swedish meatball, which was introduced three decades ago--the Lack coffee table, the Klippan sofa, and the Billy bookcase. Ikea first started serving food in the 1950s, when founder Ingvar Kamprad noted that it was hard to sell furniture with hungry customers. “The meatball is the best sofa seller for Ikea because it keeps people engaged and happy,” says Diewald.

The veggie balls, made with chickpeas, green peas, carrots, bell peppers, and corn, are reminiscent of falafel--this reviewer’s verdict: delicious--and will be served with a roasted cauliflower and sweet potato sauce in the U.S. with the sauce changing seasonally. Peter Ho, Ikea's food range and product developer for the U.S., is thinking about mushrooms for the fall and winter, but the offering will always be vegan. The chicken balls are the same recipe as the traditional Swedish meatball but with chicken substituted for the beef and pork. They will also be antibiotic free.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/04/08/ikea-veggie-balls/feed/0Ikea veggie ballsbkowittHow Ikea took over the worldhttp://fortune.com/2015/03/10/ikea/
http://fortune.com/2015/03/10/ikea/#commentsTue, 10 Mar 2015 05:00:55 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1016775]]>It took some time to figure out just the right shopping complex, off just the right highway interchange and just the right distance from Seoul, that could accommodate a 624,000-square-foot store--that is to say, one more than three times the size of the average Wal-Mart Supercenter. It took more time to solve certain mysteries, like how big to make the store's children's section in a country where kids are often given ample space in the family living quarters. It took more time to figure out how to showcase kitchens that incorporate kimchi refrigerators, a uniquely Korean appliance--and even more time to untangle nuances of the market, like the South Korean's preference for metal chopsticks.

In all, it took about six years for Ikea to unveil its inaugural store in South Korea, in Gwangmyeong, starting from the first scouting trip. Ikea celebrated the opening in December with a tree planting rather than ribbon cutting. (Chalk that up to Ikea tradition rather than to South Korean custom.)

The lag was quintessentially Ikean. "They are ferocious about not expanding too rapidly," says David Marcotte of consulting firm Kantar Retail. But six years? "The more global, the more complex it gets," replies Mikael Palmquist, the regional manager of retail for Asia Pacific. "We need to get these things right or we will never be taken seriously."

Even with all that careful planning, Ikea managed to get a few things wrong. It misjudged the number of parking spaces needed, and a seemingly benign map for sale upset some customers: The body of water east of Korea was labeled the Sea of Japan rather than the East Sea, as South Koreans prefer.

But the Koreans seem, for the most part, to have forgiven the Swedes. Today the Gwangmyeong store, which is the company's largest in the world by shopping area, is on track to become one of Ikea's top-performing outlets for 2015.

The success is hardly a fluke. Ikea, it seems, is a genius at selling Ikea--flat packing, transporting, and reassembling its quirky Swedish styling all across the planet. The furniture and furnishings brand is in more countries than Wal-Mart, Carrefour, and Toys "R" Us. China, where Ikea has eight of its 10 biggest stores, is the company's fastest-growing market. An outlet in Morocco is coming soon, and there are hints that Brazil may not be far off. Meanwhile, Ikea is going meatballs out in India, where it plans to invest about $2 billion over a decade to open 10 stores.

Getting it right in emerging markets like China and India, where Ikea is well-positioned to capitalize on a growing middle class, is a key factor in its goal of hitting EUR50 billion in sales by 2020. That's up from EUR28.7 billion in its fiscal 2014 ($39 billion based on the average exchange rate for Ikea's fiscal year) and almost double its 2005 sales level. Today the Ikea Group has 318 stores, not including the brand's some four dozen franchised locations; it's aiming for around 500 by 2020.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/03/10/ikea/feed/0IKE.03.15.15.IKEA.01CbkowittIngvar’s Empirehttp://fortune.com/2015/03/10/ingvars-empire/
http://fortune.com/2015/03/10/ingvars-empire/#commentsTue, 10 Mar 2015 05:00:12 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=1024173]]>In 1943, at age 17, Ingvar Kamprad founded Ikea--"I" for Ingvar, "K" for Kamprad, "E" for the family farm Elmtaryd, and "A" for the village of Agunnaryd, Sweden, where he grew up. Early versions of the logo included an accent over the "E" to give the company an international flair--a hint of Kamprad's global ambitions.

More than 70 years later, Kamprad is still a mythical creature around Ikea, with much of the company culture spread through lore about the patriarch. Take the naming of products. The tale goes that Kamprad, who says he is partly dyslexic, christened various products--beds after places in Norway, fabrics and curtains after Scandinavian girls' names, flowers, or plants, and bookcases after certain professions--because names were easier to keep track of than numbers. "He loves to tell that story," says Juni Wannberg, who is a guide in the Ikea Museum in Almhult.

The running narrative on Kamprad is that he is the bastion of frugality--reusing tea bags, flying economy, and driving an old Volvo--a trait that also permeates Ikea.

His past is not exactly squeaky clean. In Leading by Design, a book on the history of Ikea written with Kamprad's cooperation, he says that his German grandmother "became a great admirer of Hitler," which he explains is why he attended meetings of the pro-fascist New Swedish Movement in his younger years. When his affiliation came out in the 1990s, he apologized, calling it his "greatest mistake."

"He has devoted his adult life to Ikea and its democratic ideals," the company says, but Kamprad's wealth has hardly suffered from the devotion. Estimates of his net worth range widely, from a low of $3.5 billion to some $42 billion. (Ikea contends the truth is closer to the former.) The confusion stems from the fact that Kamprad himself does not own either Ikea Group, which operates the stores, or Inter Ikea, which owns the Ikea brand (see chart). But the complex way Kamprad has structured Ikea and other entities, many of which are foundations, conceals who the financial beneficiaries are. (We tried to figure it out and couldn't.) Kamprad's three sons, who have never given interviews, are involved in running the family empire, which has its hands in projects as far and wide as real estate, a hotel chain, a bank, and credit cards.

Last year Kamprad, 88, returned to his hometown from Switzerland, where he'd been living for almost four decades. The company says that after his wife died, there was less keeping him there, but the move also happened to coincide with the relaxing of Swedish tax laws. The prior year, Kamprad stepped down from the board of Inter Ikea Holding, and his youngest son, Mathias, became chairman. But in Almhult, Ingvar seems all but omnipresent.

]]>http://fortune.com/2015/03/10/ingvars-empire/feed/0An Ikea store in Covina, Calif.bkowittIKE.03.15.15.IKEA.08graphicIkea to raise minimum wage for U.S. workershttp://fortune.com/2014/06/26/ikea-minimum-wage/
http://fortune.com/2014/06/26/ikea-minimum-wage/#commentsThu, 26 Jun 2014 15:03:46 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=729489]]>Home-furnishing giant Ikea plans to raise the average minimum hourly wage it pays U.S. workers by 17%, and increase that puts the wage $3.51 above the current federal minimum wage.

The increase by Sweden-based Ikea is a move that “is not only the right thing to do, it makes good business sense,” according to Rob Olson, Ikea’s U.S. acting president and chief financial officer. The move is also a savvy public relations move, and comes just a few days after Gap GPS announced it has pledged to raise its minimum hourly wage to $9.

Ikea’s plan to become the latest retailer to voluntarily raise its minimum wage comes more than a year after President Obama announced his support for a higher minimum wage in the February 2013 State of the Union address. States and cities have sought to announce their own wage increases above the federal minimum, and a majority of Americans favor a hike to the federal wage, according to a recent poll by CNNMoney.

Ikea’s increase won’t have the same affect on the U.S. population as Gap’s move. Gap has over 2,000 stores across all formats it operates in the U.S., while Ikea only has 38 stores. As of the beginning of 2015, Ikea plans to pay an average minimum hourly wage of $10.76, and about 50% of the company’s U.S. retail workers will benefit from the change. The hourly wage will vary based on cost of living in each Ikea location in the U.S.

Ikea said the new wage structure will be a “significant investment,” but won’t result in higher prices. The increase will also be in effect at three new locations Ikea is opening before the end of 2015. Meanwhile, the company’s non-retail locations — including distribution centers and a manufacturing facility — already pay minimum wages above the local living wage.

]]>http://fortune.com/2014/06/26/ikea-minimum-wage/feed/0An Ikea store in Covina, Calif.johnnerkellThe EPA’s carbon plan won’t hurt Corporate Americahttp://fortune.com/2014/06/02/why-obamas-climate-change-policies-wont-hurt-corporate-america/
http://fortune.com/2014/06/02/why-obamas-climate-change-policies-wont-hurt-corporate-america/#commentsMon, 02 Jun 2014 17:10:06 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=553276]]>President Obama has said that fighting climate change is one of his top priorities. He has finally made good on that promise when he announced on Monday that new federal regulations will force states and power plants to reduce carbon emissions by 30% by 2030 (from a baseline of 2005 emissions). As widely reported, the regulatory mechanism is meant to be flexible, with four main options now open to the states - states can choose from energy efficiency, shifting from coal to natural gas, investing in renewable energy and discounts to encouraging consumers to move to off-peak hours.

It all sounds wonky and focused only on the power sector, but these new rules could bring deep change for all businesses and all citizens. Those fighting progress are of course crying foul and shouting about economic devastation from burdensome regulations - the U.S. Chamber of Commerce put out an absurd "analysis" of the regulations before they were released. There will obviously be a cost for utilities to comply, but industry generally overestimates - often by an order of magnitude - the expense to meet tougher standards.

And to say, as the Chamber does, that these regulations are the prime source of uncertainty for utilities, is an exaggeration at best. The utilities were already at a point of no return even without regulations, and investors have begun to figure it out. Barclays bank just downgraded the corporate debt of the entire U.S. utility sector to an "underweight" rating in its portfolio. The bank declared that an industry that was once "seen by many investors as a sturdy and defensive subset of the investment grade universe" was now risky because of the threat of cheap solar power. Clean tech innovation is already well under way and deeply impacting older industries. The new regulations will only accelerate the move.

Regulating power plants and utilities is going to propel innovation across many sectors - not just power technology, but anything that improves energy efficiency, including new technologies for buildings, agriculture, electronics, and even water (we use 13% of our electricity to move, heat, and treat water). So, yes, dirtier power will get more expensive - and that's part of the point - but we will innovate. We will drive total energy use down and use of clean energy up.

There will be other ripple effects making the carbon reductions from these regulations greater than they seem. Electricity, as some critics point out, is "only" 32% of U.S. emissions, but that's only part of the story. Transportation makes up another 28% of our carbon pollution. As we make power generation cleaner, plugging a Tesla TSLA into the grid will kill two very big birds with one electric stone.

So all of that said, what should a company that isn't in the business of generating power do to prepare for what's coming? I'd suggest moving to renewable energy as fast as possible, if only to avoid uncertainty. Will utilities be able to pass along whatever costs they incur? That is, will our energy costs rise? Who knows, but it does seem likely that traditional, dirty energy will be getting more expensive. It's very simple in theory - the less energy you use in total, and the more clean energy you use, the less vulnerable your business (or home) is.

Consider the organizations - mainly retailers and big tech companies - that have been moving aggressively to renewable energy already. IKEA will make 70% of its own power by 2015 (and over 100% of its needs in the U.S.). Wal-Mart WMT gets 24% of its electricity from renewables (granted, two-thirds of that comes from the green power their utilities are already generating, but it's still a lot of clean power onsite or near to stores). Apple AAPL gets about 100% of its power for its data centers from the wind, sun, and fuel cells.

I could go on, but the key question is this: How much do these companies care about these new rules and the cost of dirty power? Well, I'm guessing IKEA cares about 70% to 100% less than some of its lagging peers. As a homeowner making over 50% of my own power from the sun, I know I've got less directly at stake in this debate.

Regulations and laws aren't fun. They're not sexy. The battles over these laws will be bloody, so why not avoid the war? It's time for companies to actively seek ways to dramatically reduce their energy use and shift their supply.

For utilities - and all companies really - the writing is not just on the wall, it's now on the books.

Andrew Winston is founder of Winston Eco-Strategies. He is also author of The Big Pivot: Radically Practical Strategies for a Hotter, Scarcer, and More Open World. Follow him @AndrewWinston.

]]>http://fortune.com/2014/06/02/why-obamas-climate-change-policies-wont-hurt-corporate-america/feed/0494403467-11nt2192Why IKEA spying on French people is absurdhttp://fortune.com/2013/12/16/why-ikea-spying-on-french-people-is-absurd/
http://fortune.com/2013/12/16/why-ikea-spying-on-french-people-is-absurd/#commentsMon, 16 Dec 2013 23:19:06 +0000http://fortune.com/?p=636177]]>Having just watched the Homeland finale (no spoilers, calm down) and then having passed F. Murray Abraham, a.k.a. Dar Adal, on the street this morning (and yes, I said "good job last night" like a doofus), I've got spying on the brain. I'm thinking about just how hard it seems to do a great human intelligence job well — and I’m also thinking about just how easy it is to screw up a low-level intelligence gig.

Which brings me to the ongoing saga of IKEA France, whose top executives are under investigation for spying on both their own employees and their customers. As the New York Times has reported, executives allegedly hired private investigators to dig up dirt on employees, irate consumers, and others. The former chief executive, Jean-Louis Baillot, has been fired, and the investigation could lead to criminal charges against others.

This is, I’m sorry to say, pretty dumb stuff. Customers have already, thanks to the Internet, willingly given companies like IKEA just about every bit of personal information they possess. IKEA knows who paid $0.99 for a reindeer tablecloth and who spent 14 hours putting together the Micke desk. It knows who orders what online, who suddenly needs a larger bed, and who's taken up gardening of late. And it knows it because its customers happily volunteered that information in return for special discounts and/or free Swedish meatballs.

So what did IKEA allegedly do? It went beyond that and actually dug into the personal lives of customers that had made service-related complaints or employees with extended sick leave in hopes of discrediting them. It took that willingness to share and turned it against them. It made its customers enemies, not partners. And in doing so, it created a customer backlash that is rippling far beyond France and into the heart of the $38 billion Swedish furniture behemoth.

Like many successful organizations that stumble, IKEA's transgressions are in some ways a function of its success. Economic power doesn't mean taking advantage of those that keep you in business, not to mention in office. And in this era of security-gone-beserk, it's important to remember that the illusion of privacy, however illusory it may in fact be, still counts. And so does trust.

]]>http://fortune.com/2013/12/16/why-ikea-spying-on-french-people-is-absurd/feed/0DO NOT USE!clyons2014Ikea takes on Chinahttp://fortune.com/2011/11/30/ikea-takes-on-china/
http://fortune.com/2011/11/30/ikea-takes-on-china/#commentsWed, 30 Nov 2011 15:00:16 +0000http://test-alley.fortune.com/2011/11/30/ikea-takes-on-china/]]>he Swedish retailer’s stores in China have become a favorite leisure destination for shoppers. At Ikea’s Beijing outlet (below) — its busiest store in China — patrons can be seen sipping lingonberry juice in the cafeteria, taking family portraits in showrooms, or even sleeping on the beds. Last year 33 million people visited Ikea’s Chinese mainland stores. Revenue growth of 20% makes this one of the company’s fastest-growing markets. —Anne VanderMeyAs customers ride an escalator at Ikea's Beijing store, they can snap up a green apple corer, if they choose.

By the numbers:

20,000: The average number of shoppers a day who visit Ikea’s 463,000-square-foot store in Beijing. On Saturdays and Sundays that number can spike to around 30,000 visitors.

9: The number of stores Ikea has opened in mainland China, with five more under construction. The Asian/Australian region accounts for 6% of the company’s sales.

$2.7 trillion: China’s retail sales in 2011 as estimated by China Market Research Group, up 16% from the prior year. By contrast, U.S. retail sales so far this year have grown 8%.